March from Liberty Hall to Moore Street - #SaveMooreStreetfromDemolition

#SaveMooreStreetfromDemolition This is an important call to you to take part in this crucial show of support of the 1916 Moore Street Markets Battlefield site, on this Saturday. We are asking people to come in 1916 uniform or clothes, to bear one of the flags of the 1916 Easter Rising, to tell and bring your friends and comrades. #SaveMooreStreet Please share this post.

The march assembles at Liberty Hall at 1pm on Sat 30th and then proceeds to Moore Street.

We urge as many people as possible to attend to event because this probably the last chance we have not to turn this into another Wood Quay episode where our history was destroyed and concreted over. A huge shopping centre is planned for the Moore Street site by developers -the same kind of people who helped wreck the country and put their own greed and profit first and they are being facilitated by the FG government who for once and for all want to bury any memory of the rebels and their revolutionary ideas.

Indeed it this era of consumerism and corporate control and the impending TTIP agreement between the EU and US that has central to it something called Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which are special courts presided over by corporate lawyers, for use by corporations and are ABOVE our national sovereign and there is no right to appeal and are in secret. They will allow corporations to sue the state for non-competitive activities, such as labour laws, environmental protection, safety and will be able to force the privatisation of everything from health, education, prisons, water, forests and any other public entities. -It is to stop such monstrosities as this that we need revolutionary spirit and ideas and you can be absolutely sure that the rebel leaders of 1916 are turning in their grave that the hard won sovereignty for which they gave their lives is about to be given away in this TTIP treaty. Indeed no less than leading members of FG have actively promoted and encouraged that Ireland have these ISDS courts. This is amounts to treason.

So please show your support for the Moore Street campaign and lets start first by preserving our heritage.

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We include an recent article by Maureen O'Suvillvan TD on the saga of Moore Street and which includes a timeline of events so far.
Src: http://maureenosullivan.ie/latest-news/minister-officia...race/
***************************************************************************************************************Minister officially refuses to give independent conservation experts access to inspect Moore St. terrace

Since 2009, when it was first acknowledged that this historically significant area could in fact be destroyed and built over as Wood Quay was and Kilmainham Gaol very nearly had been in the 1950s, we have fought to make sure we don’t lose Moore St but for a fitting historical quarter to be put in it’s place preserving the buildings and the street. Eventually the struggle resulted in the Government purchasing 14-17 Moore Street as a National Monument which is a tiny portion of the full historic terrace. In recent weeks this issue escalated when word was received that buildings either side of the 1916 Monument were being demolished.

For those who haven’t been following the saga we have created a Moore St. timeline:

Dec 16th 2015: Government coalition vote against saving Moore St from total demolition by outnumbering opposition TD’s in the 1916 Quarter Development Bill 2015.

Jan 5th 2016: Construction workers recommenced work, erecting scaffolding and hoarding. A commencement notice had been granted for surveying building features in the National Monument but the works seem to be far more extensive.

Jan 7th 2016: Moore St. Dáil Group raise the issue in the Dáil with the Minister once again; Minister doesn’t back down.

That evening I get word that building fronts are being removed and the interiors are being left open to elements. Seemingly a plan to demolish buildings either side of the National Monument is being put into action.

Jan 8th 2016: A protest takes place on Moore St and the groups in support of Save Moore Street occupied the buildings to prevent demolition of a number of buildings as there was no other choice.

Jan 11th 2016: The High Court puts a temporary stop to demolition on Moore St until a full hearing of the case taken by the 1916 relatives on the 2nd of Feb.

Jan 12th 2016: The groups overwhelmingly agreed by a show of hands to vacate the site after a meeting of the groups in the Moore Street Terrace, as the immediate threat of demolition was averted.

Jan 15th 2016: After a number of protesters who occupied the buildings raised the damage they had witnessed inside the buildings a group of TD’s and the Lord Mayor sought access to the site with independent conservation experts to inspect the work that was carried out and to see if any structural damage had taken place along the terrace.

After initially being told we would be allowed access, every 5 minutes we were told it would be another 5 minutes. Eventually the two conservation experts were refused entry by the foreman and no reason was given.

Jan 20th 2016: After sending a formal request to the Minister for access and following up with calls on Monday and Tuesday I eventually received a response from the Minister with no indication that a visit would be granted, instead she says she has arranged for an inspection by “a senior official of the City Council’s Planning Department, accompanied by the City Archaelogist, who can afterwards provide you directly with the information you have sought about the current status of the works.” We’ll see what becomes of that review; City officials are to report on work to the National Monument at a Lord Mayor Forum at 2pm tomorrow (26th January) at City Hall.

I will be making an application through the Chief State Solicitor’s Office for access and on February 2nd we will find out the High Courts’ decision whether the works on the buildings are allowed to continue or not. We sincerely hope that the High Court decision will reflect the huge outcry of support the campaign has received and that a new vision for the entire area will be realised. The irony of what the men and women in 1916 fought for and what is going on now, these men and women fought not only for Irish independence but for an Ireland of Equals and they would be dismayed that the ordinary people have to campaign and fight against a Government and council that puts corporate interests ahead of the will of the people. We live in hope that the decision will go our way but if it doesn’t the fight will continue as this is too important to let go. We will not let 1916 Dublin be built over in the same way Viking Dublin was with the Civic Offices in Wood Quay.

Great photo included of Moore St in 1974 long before is was allowed fall into it’s current state.

Aerial shot of the historic Moore Street buildings planned to be demolition with a nod from Minister Heather Humphreys FG

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Ms O’Sullivan specifically asked Taoiseach Enda Kenny why the Government isn’t doing more to protect the entire Moore Street terrace and not just the buildings numbered 14-17.

Maureen O’Sullivan: “On the 1st of January in Dublin Castle, there was an impressive flag-raising ceremony to start the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. An amazing array of launches and events is being held not just in Ireland, but also abroad, by a wide number of organisations. A number of restorations are ongoing, for example, Kilmainham court and Pearse’s cottage. It appears to me, and others, that this and previous Governments would have preferred it had the men and women involved been airlifted from the GPO to Richmond Barracks and Kilmainham Gaol, thereby bypassing Moore Street. However, they did not bypass it and it is part of the evacuation route. It was also witness to a number of events, not just involving the leaders in Nos. 14-17 Moore Street, but the ordinary men and women who took part as well as citizens in Dublin.”

“Shaffrey Associates conducted a wider assessment of the 1916 battlefield as part of the ministerial consent to carry out work. I will cite parts of that assessment. The block exactly matches the terrace into which the majority of the GPO garrison escaped. The activities relating to the 1916 Rising that took place on Moore Street happened throughout the entire street, on adjacent lanes and within many of the buildings. The assessment specifically mentions buildings other than Nos. 14-17. Furthermore, Article 1 of the Venice Charter reads: “The concept of a historic monument embraces not only the single architectural work but also the urban or rural setting”. Article 6 reads: “Wherever the traditional setting exists, it must be kept. No new construction, demolition or modification which would alter the relations of mass and colour must be allowed.” To me, this means that the fabric of Moore Street and its area must be retained.”

“If one walked into Kilmainham Gaol or Pearse’s cottage or if one went to Brú na Bóinne, one would immediately get a sense of what it was like to have been there at the time in question. This is what we could have at Moore Street. Last week or the week before, the Taoiseach launched a virtual reality tour of Easter 1916. I do not want that to form part of what we will do for Moore Street when we have the opportunity to retain the authenticity of Moore Street now. Westport House was withdrawn from NAMA. Under section 4.1.1 of the NAMA Act, that was possible for legitimate reasons in the public interest.”

“The Government had the power to designate Nos. 14-17 Moore Street as a national monument. Why was this designation not extended to the rest of the terrace? Why has the Taoiseach abandoned what he called the “laneways of history” and why are we leaving it to a vulture capitalist to look after the rest of the battlefield site?“

Enda Kenny: “Thanks, Deputy. I looked at this myself quite a number of years ago. To put it mildly, the condition of the street and of the buildings on either side of what is a national monument were simply disgraceful. I have listened to all of the rows about the national monument, about what should or should not be done about it. For that reason, the Government purchased the national monument.”

“This has dragged on for some many years with so many different variations, given the fact that Dublin City Council, as the planning authority, has responsibility in respect of applications that come before it for planning permission both in respect of Moore Street and the lanes of history at the back of O’Connell Street and so on.”

“In respect of the centenary commemorations for 2016, Government decided to purchase this for a sum of €4million and to restore this building in a proper, authentic and time of the period fashion. As I understand it the maps show clearly other documents, buildings on either side were either non-existent or in a state of collapse before the Rising took place in 1916. And you are right, this was the centre of the end of the evacuation process from the side door of the GPO…but you know Deputy O’Sullivan what the Government wants to do for the people here and for posterity is to take the buildings where the surrender was commissioned from and preserve that as a national monument in respect of one of the first small countries to achieve its, to strike out for independence, politically and economically at the start of the 20th century.

The Government don’t own all the streets and the buildings on either side of 14-17. The Government do own, in respect of the people now, these buildings and the intention is to have that restored in a proper, fitting fashion. It is not a case of just, of the vulture capitalists, the venture capitalists or capitalists doing what they like in respect of the remainder of the surrounding area. The responsibility for planning and for approval of that lies initially with Dublin City Council and, beyond that, if there’s an objection, An Bord Pleanála and that’s independent of the process of Government…”

O’Sullivan: “When you did the right thing, with part of it, why could you not have gone further and have done the right thing with the whole area. In 2014, we had this exchange also and you said to me that commemorative events had to be inclusive, sensitive and appropriate. Now I want to go back two weeks and to just 14 to 17 first of all. The occupation should never have happened. But what happened on that Monday was completely disrespectful, undignified and insensitive to what has happened in 14 to 17. It was all cloak and dagger stuff, there was no conservation expert on hand to oversee the work that was going on, somebody happened to arrive along and heard workers there with claw hammers and, no disrespect to the workers, but they didn’t know where they were, what they were doing and the significance of the building.”

“Now there have been so many mistakes in the reports and I just take one. Number 18 is, in one conservation report saying, that the facade singled out was pre-1916. And in another report, it was omitted. And we know that once something is destroyed, it’s gone forever. And we have examples of that. Now, so far, the Government, the taxpayer, paid €9million €4million to buy and €5million has been designated for 14 to 17. My questions is: whose plan are we following? Because it doesn’t appear to be the State plan, it appears to be the plan that was drawn up by the developer, the same, failed property developer, who wanted to build over, under, around and on top of the national monument. So that seems to be the plan that we’re following.”

“Now I’ve just been to a meeting at [Dublin] City Hall – the Moore Street Forum. Dublin City Council were represented and of course they’re saying that the minister has responsibility, you’re saying Dublin City Council have responsibility. Now there was a motion passed in the city council on the 11th of January and that motion has to be taken on board by the minister and the Government. And because the Government are passing it one way, Dublin City Council are passing it another way, there is a need, and I think the Government and the minister have to take the lead on this for all of the stakeholders to come together, at the same time, so that these matters can be addressed. Because time is very much running out.”

You know i got a theory on this moore street fiasco,its being callously used as a political football to score votes and get more air time with RTE...Where were the AAA, People before profit,and Sinn Fein and the other lunatic independents before all this kicked off?Where were they to say ''save moore street'' when it was allowed to fall into such dis-repair,they weren't anywhere....This stinks of fake patriotism,they would rather a boat load of refugees to come into ireland and change the demographic...

In the untarnished 1916 surrender photo we see the feet of Nurse Elizabeth O'Farrel next to the boots of Commandant Pearse at the official surrender. In the non-Banksy mural of 2016 we don't see the gallant nurse's feet. Whatever the aesthetics, the history is offside.

Directed and edited by Marcus Howard. A selection of interviews with 1916 relatives and campaigners after the historic 1916 terrace and laneways of the battle of Moore Street finally hit the headlines as it was under threat to be demolished. Interviews with relatives of James Connolly, Maureen O'Sullivan TD, Diarmuid Breatnach and Mel MacGiobuin from the Save Moore Street From Demolition campaign and the grandson of The O'Rahilly, Proinsias O'Rathaille. #SaveMooreStreet #Rebellion #Ireland2016

Sinn Féin deputy leader McDonald addresses Moore St rally
Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald addressed another huge turnout on Sunday in the second of two protests held over the weekend over plans to demolish buildings on Moore St in Dublin.

...Speaking during a rally on Moore St on Sunday to save the site from demolition, Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald criticised the Government over the plans.

...“The Government should be ashamed that citizens, the relatives of our 1916 heroes, were forced to go to court to halt this work in just the second week of this the centenary year. This should not be their burden to bear." she said.

"The safeguarding of our culture and heritage is in the hands of Government and it is time they acted like it," the Dublin Central TD added.

“It is an affront to the legacy of the men and women of 1916; the men and women of this proud island who took on an empire in not just this fair city, but in Wexford, Galway, Meath, and Louth," she continued.

Deputy McDonald told the crowd that Moore St was "an election issue" and said the government "must understand it will not get away with bulldozing or damaging the terrace."